The Living Force
by Mara Caine
Summary: A dream brings Luke and Mara to a place where they may find a way to defeat two foes. Set post-Ruin in NJO.


Luke found himself in a strange place. He saw huge green fields, dense swamps and a very beautiful city.

"Where am I," Luke asked.

"Far, far away from where you are now. Come here and you will find answers to many of your problems," a distant, deep voice replied.

"What is this place called? Where is it? How can I come here if I don't know this?!"

"Find the name of a world where long-eared amphibious creatures and an army of mechanical soldiers fought." 

Before Luke could ask any more questions, he felt himself being pulled away... 

*****

Suddenly Luke sat up in bed.

"What's wrong Luke," came the voice of his wife, Mara.

"I just had a strange dream, ... or maybe it was a vision."

"What was it about?"

Luke took a deep breath to stead himself before saying, "A deep voice told me to go to a place where there was a battle between droids and long-eared creatures. It said we would find solutions to many of our problems there."

Luke swung his legs out of bed and started walking towards the refresher.

"Mara, I'm going down to the Coruscant Library today to see if I can find out where this place is. Will you be okay, love?"

"Yes I'll be fine, Skywalker. I'm going to be spending the day with Jaina."

Ten minutes later, Luke emerged from the refresher wearing a cream-colored shirt, dark green pants and black boots. After kissing his wife goodbye, he left for the Coruscant Library.

Once he arrived at the Coruscant Library, Luke found a private workstation and begun his search.

After two hours of fruitless searching, Luke finally found the planet described in his vision.

It was called Naboo. Forty-six years ago, a battle had been fought between the droid armies of the Trade Federation and the Gungan army there. 

After Luke copied the information to a data card, he rushed home to share his findings with his wife.

*****

As Luke exited the turbolift on his floor, he decided to surprise his wife. He stopped at a flower store and bought a small bouquet of flowers for Mara. He masked his presence as he walked down the corridor towards the apartment he shared with Mara. 

Luke hesitated upon arriving at the door, hearing Mara explaining the technique used to put oneself into a healing trance to Jaina. He opened the door silently and snuck in.

He snuck up behind them as Mara was telling Jaina about the efficiency of the healing trance and about how Luke put her into the trance on Niruan.

"It's easiest to have another person put you into a healing trance because it is very difficult to concentrate when you are injured," Luke added.

"Why in the name of the Sith did you do that for Skywalker?!!!" Mara exclaimed angrily.

"I didn't want you to know I had these flowers for you and I felt like surprising you," Luke responded in a soft, scared voice. They stared at eachother for a long time, Mara radiating anger, Luke cowering before her wrath. It was all Jaina could do keep herself from laughing.

"I'm sorry Aunt Mara and Uncle Luke. You two look so funny now," said Jaina as she laughed. 

"Since the flowers are so pretty, I'll forgive you," said Mara. "But you're sleeping on the couch tonight."

At this point, Jaina was feeling a bit uncomfortable, so she poilitely excused herself.

By now it was dinner time, so Luke and Mara decided to order some Alderanian food from a new place that just opened up. After it arrived they sat down to eat and dicusse Luke's findings. After he was done, Luke told Mara he wanted to go to Naboo tommorow, and Mara agreed.

The next morning, after they'd said goobye to the Solos, they set off on their journey to Naboo. Four hours later they came out of hyperspace in the Naboo system. Through the view port they saw a sphere predominated by blue, white and green.

"Doesn't look all that heavily industrialized at all," Mara noticed.

"What I read said they have an economy based on agriculture. It's mostly plains and swamps."

Soon they had obtained permission from Theed Spaceport to land. Fifteen miutes later, after they had finished shutting down and locking up the ship they began their search. 

After three fruitless days spent searching Theed, they decided to extend their search to the swamps. They rented a hoverhome and were soon on their way to the swamps. 

On their second day of searching the swamps, they saw a tall, robed figure.

"Are you Luke and Mara Skywalker," it intoned in a deep voice.

"Yes we are," responded Luke. "Why do you want to know?"

"You are here on a quest. Follow me and you may find that which you are searching for," the figure said before it began to move away.

"Luke, are you sure that thing isn't leading us into a trap," Mara asked.

"I don't feel it means us any harm. Come on Mara, this is the most hope we've had in days."

"Alright Luke but if it's leading us into a trap I'm gonna get you after we get out of it."

Cautiously Luke and Mara followed. After about two hours of trudging through the swamp, they came to a clearing with a large mud house in it. Seven cloaked figures of varing heights were standing near the house.

"Who are you people," Mara asked, but they responded with silence.


End file.
